Firefighters become ice breakers on Chicago river during winter
CHICAGO (CBS) — During the cold winter months, streets aren't the only areas in need of service to keep things flowing in the city. Roads would be impassable without plows, and the same could be said for the Chicago River without firefighters.
One crew onboard a fireboat explains that they have a special job in the winter.
"Every day, you're getting a little bit better at it the more you do," said marine pilot Gordon Steiner.
When it's winter in Chicago, even the river needs a plow. The city entrusts the experts at the Chicago Fire Department to remove the ice.
"Best job in Chicago. Actually, best job on the Great Lakes," Steiner said.
Steiner, a marine pilot with the Chicago Fire Department, can steer a 95-foot modified tugboat with finesse.
"When you enter an ice field, you gotta enter it very slowly. Once you're up inside the ice, then you can add the throttle to it," he said.
The boat shreds through sheets of ice, leaving a chunky channel in its wake.
"It's a blast to be out on the water all day long," said Deputy District Chief Jason Lach.
He said breaking the ice protects city infrastructure from damage and discourages daredevils from walking on an iced-over Chicago River. it also helps with first responders.
"We try and stay ahead of it. The thicker the ice, the harder it is to move through, so if we do this about once every other day just to help prevent it and make it easier for us to move when we need to," Lach said.
As of Friday, the ice on the Chicago River is about three to five inches thick. Fire crews said in some winters, they've encountered ice "18 inches thick."
"Most people take it for granted that this just breaks up, and it's easy to flow through, and it's not," Lach said.
"There's never just ABC. This is how you do it," Steiner said.
Streets don't plow themselves, and neither does the river. Leave it to the experts—firefighters and icebreakers.
"It's what they're doing. They're breaking the ice. Keeping it safe for all of us around," Lach said.
